Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath: Poetic Artisan

From: "Years": 'Eternity bores me, I never wanted it.'

Sylivia Plath was proclaimed a "Poetic Artisan" by her husband, Poet Laureate of England, Ted Hughes. This meaning Plath was only happy with a piece of literature if she could work on it. Her contemporaries in the late 1950's and early 60's philosophy of "First thought, best thought" as endorsed by Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg would not have suited her. Plath, instead worked tirelessly on her poetic style, which at times seems rambling and non-sensical. However, Plath did everything in her writing for a reason. Taking this into consideration, it is startling that when Plath published her semi-autobiographical novel, "The Bell Jar" in 1963 under a pseudonym in England (It was rejected for pring in the US by Harpers and Knoff; Knoff having published Plath's first collection of poems, "The Colossus"), she didn't refer to "The Bell Jar" as 'serious' literature. For someone who took the craft of writing so pensively it appears ridicuolous that Plath would put anything out in the public eye if she was anything less than utterly pleased with it.

At her death in 1963, Plath has a collection of poems ready for publishing, "Ariel". This set of poems would end up being a major reason a posthumous book of poems, "The Collected Poems: Sylvia Plath", would end up wining the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Making Plath one of the few select poets to receive the award after death. "Ariel" and the later, "Collected Poems", included some of Plath's most famous and influental poetry including, 'Lady Lazrus', in which Sylvia tackeles death in almost biblical proportions, 'A Birthday Present', and 'Daddy'.

Because of her untimely death, Plath has had a huge following from the feminists who see her as persecuted by Ted Hughes, by the mysoginistic population and by men in general. Ted Hughes has since broke his 35 year silence about his relationship with Plath and gave his opinion about experiences that were some of the driving forces behind Plath's masterpiece, "Ariel".
'Birthday Letters'
is a wonderful collection of poetry for anyone familiar or unfamiliar with the Hughes/Plath relationship. In the wake of Ted Huges death on October 28, 1998, the poets of the world mourn the loss of one of our own. A man who eventually needed to succumb to the nature that he wrote about as cold and hostile, unbearing and unforgiving.
A Guiness to you Ted, wherever you are.

Selected Poems of Sylvia Plath's

Jeffery Meyers informative discourse of Sylvia Plath Vote for a Sylvia Plath stamp--before April 30, 2001

For more biographical informationClick here

(thanks to Sara for the update) Toss me a thought on e-mail

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